Decisions

Authorisation is required by the Director to approve the expenditure of the DFG budget in accordance with Appendix 1 at the end of the report

Please see accompanying report

The decision maker has approved the recommendations set out in the report attached.

1  The purpose of this report is to seek approval for the library service to continue procurement of library materials through the North West Libraries Consortium (NWLC) / Yorkshire Book Consortium (YBC)

2  If 1 is agreed, approval is also sought, under CPR 5, for the supply of library materials through the North West Libraries Consortium (NWLC) / Yorkshire Book Consortium (YBC) following re-tendering of the contract in 2023.

The consortium contract for the supply of library materials was awarded via competitive tender, led by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.  Lot 1 (adult’s) was awarded to Askews & Holts Library Services Ltd and Lot 2 (children’s) was awarded to Peters Ltd., both to run for the period 1st August 2023 to 31st July 2026 (with the option to extend by a further 2x12 month periods). 

The Chief Officer Community Hubs, Welfare & Business Support approved the library service joining the North West Libraries Consortium (NWLC) / Yorkshire Book Consortium (YBC) and under CPR 5 (5.1 and 5.3), the procurement of library materials through the re-tendering of the consortium’s contract.

The Active Leeds Service propose both internal and external works to Aireborough Leisure Centre, to increase revenue and improve the quality of provision for customers. The internal works will focus on increasing the size and capacity of the gym, as well as creating a refurbished activity hall. The external works involve reroofing and cladding of ALC that covers the area where the internal works will be undertaken.

The two elements of the project are being funded separately, with the internal works being funded via prudential borrowing and the external works being funded via Corporate Property Management’s capital maintenance budget.

The Chief Officer Operations and Active Leeds has approved the recommendations set out in the attached report.

The report will seek authority to spend the funding for 2024/25 included within the Capital Programme for both improvement works across the Council’s estate (this includes delivery of the annual and backlog maintenance programme) and for essential maintenance across the Council’s greenspaces. 

The Director of Communities, Housing & Environment:

a)  Noted the contents of the  report;

b)  Gave authority to spend the £6m funding for 2024/25 included within the Capital Programme for improvement works across both the Council’s estate (annual maintenance (£1.5m) and backlog maintenance (£3.5m) programmes) and for health and safety works across the Council’s greenspaces (£1 m).

The decision maker has approved the recommendations set out in the report attached – these are -  

The Director of Adults and Health has - 

·  Approved Adults and Health and Children and Families request to vary the existing contract with LCIL under the provision of Regulation 72 (1) (b)(i) of The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for an additional period of up to seven months. The period of the modified contract will run from 1st September 2024 to 31^st March 2025 with a contract value of £293,076.? 

·  In line with CPR 3.1.7, given authority to procure a new PA Payroll and Managed Bank Account Service, for a period of 3 years commencing on 1^st April 2025, with an option to extend for a further period of up to 60 months in any combination.? The maximum cost of the contract per annum will be £450,000.00 or £1,350,000.00 for the initial period (overall contract value if all extensions are utilised: £3,600,000.00).? 

·  Noted; The Director of Adults & Health will be taking this decision on behalf of the Director of Children and Families, who contributes to this contract provision.? 

Decision required to:

-  approve the receipt (subject to award) of Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme grant funding of up to £7.5m to install air source heat pumps, solar panels and other energy efficiency technologies at up to 12 corporate and school sites.

-  procure two contractors for:

o  Solar PV design and installation

o  Air source heat pump design and installation

-  provide Council contribution of up to £900,000 as match funding

As detailed in the report

The Director of City Development will be requested to authorise expenditure to carry out the second and final phase of construction on Leeds Town Hall partial refurbishment. Costs to be confirmed when the contractor submits a final commercial offer, due on 9th May 2024.

The Director of City Development has :-

a)  Noted the previous authority to spend of £439,200 on the scheme for pre-construction expenditure.

b)  Transferred departmental borrowing of £350,000 from within the existing City Development capital programme, giving a total programme budget of £19,852,400, funded through £16,502,400 of Corporate City Council borrowing and £3,350,000 of City Development departmental borrowing.

c)  Approved the direct award of a contract to Kier Construction Limited T/A Kier North and Scotland (Kier) by calling off from the YORBuild3 Major Works Framework (Lot 1 – Projects over £10m and up to £30m) in the sum of £12,456,027.04 to carry out the works described in this report. The contract shall commence on 17th June 2024 and shall end on 12th January 2026.

d)  Authorised remaining expenditure of £19,413,200 from existing Capital Scheme No. 16996/TRR and sub schemes to carry out refurbishment works and access improvements at Leeds Town Hall.

e)  Approved that the decisions forming the subject of this report be exempt from Call In for the reasons stated in section 7 of the report.

To agree the school calendar for community and voluntary controlled schools and SILCs for the academic year 2025 – 2026.

See attached report.

The Council, like many Local Authorities, faces unprecedented demand in relation to the consideration of requests for support for additional Education, Health and Care needs of young people and subsequent issuing of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP). EHCPs have, by statute, to be issued within set timescales and must include advice from Education Psychologists. Given the current demand for EHCPs there is a significant recruitment and retention issue for local authorities seeking to recruit and retain Educational Psychologists. The Council is currently not fulfilling its responsibility in terms of timelines with a considerable number of EHCPs which need to be either reviewed or issued. Despite the best endeavours of the existing staff, additional capacity is required to address this backlog and improve the performance on timeliness of the end-to-end EHCP process. The EHCP process is a significant undertaking for young people and families, the timely issuing of plans will ensure an improved experience for children and families and improved outcomes for children. Accordingly, the Directorate proposes to enter into contractual arrangements for the purchase of interim support from specialised recruitment agencies for appropriate Educational Psychologists to be engaged to work on and reduce the EHCP assessments and reviews that are currently delayed.

Please see attached report.